Strange Situations
by Crusader288
Summary: Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid discover a new world, full of mysterious craft that float on air and can carry hundreds of passengers. However, this world may not be very accepting of dragons and vikings. Crossover with the book series Airborn.
1. Chapter 1: Two Sides to Every Story

This story is actually a crossover with a book trilogy called _Airborn_, which doesn't have its own section for Fanfiction. I know most of you have probably not read the books, so I've tried to add a good introduction for Matt Cruse here. I'll keep the details coming when we get to them, and I hope I won't go and get you too confused. Just know that the books are set in a world where technology branched off onto zeppelins instead of airplanes, and it is set in the past, around the time period between world wars I and II, though neither of these is mentioned in the books. For those of you who, by some miracle, have read the books, this takes place after the second book, but ignores the events in _Starclimber_. The ending of that book just didn't give me what I wanted.

**Disclaimer:** I'm not going to say this again. I don't own any of these series.

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 1

**Two Sides to Every Story**

* * *

After the battle, the vikings had gone to work salvaging their sunken ships. Those that did survive the inferno were busy transporting workers to and from the site, along with some of the larger dragons – though not all of the vikings were willing to ride those.

Many of the catapults used in the battle had been converted to cranes, and the grunts of the vikings as they lifted their burdens could be heard. In the middle of it all, four vikings were straining to turn the enormous wheels of some confounded contraption.

"That's enough!" A boy yelled, and the four stout men sighed in relief of their labors.

"Here you go, buddy," the young viking said to his pet dragon, handing it a hooked rope. The dragon took it in its mouth, then jumped into the water. He swam down to the remnants of a mostly-intact viking ship, and tied the rope securely to its mast. He gave the rope a few light jerks, and, satisfied that it would hold, swam back up to the surface.

Hiccup watched as Toothless pulled himself up out of the water and sat down next to him. The boy turned his head, and nodded to a man standing near the contraption, holding a hammer in his good had.

"Go ahead, Gobber." Hiccup said.

Gobber swung the hammer, hitting a switch on the machine, and then dove for cover; a habit developed after dealing with several of Hiccup's previous inventions.

The wheels on the machine spun a short distance, and then stopped with a bang.

Gobber looked over at Hiccup. "Sorry, lad, I truly thought this one was going to work."

Hiccup looked around him, as other vikings slowly heaved their sunken ships to the surface. At the rate they were going, it would take forever to get what remained of the fleet up and running. Hiccup had been trying out some new ideas for pulling them up faster, his desk at home now void of his notes on dragon riding and covered in sketches of every manner of pulling and lifting devices.

Hiccup replied, "It must have jammed. We better lock it again, before–"

There was a loud _crack_, and the wheels on either side of the machine began spinning rapidly, quickly winding the rope up. After a short time, a ship exploded to the surface in a plume of water – a far cry from the slow heavings of the other vikings, as they pulled up the counterweights on the cranes and lifted only a slow ten feet at a time.

The other four vikings surrounded Hiccup, cheering, glad that their effort had not gone to waste; they had lifted an entire ship in less than a day. One of the huge men gave him a pat on the back, which threw the small boy forward onto the rocks by the shore.

Gobber, laughing, picked him and said, "Good job, lad."

Hiccup dusted himself off and smiled. He looked over the bay at Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Astrid had challenged him that she and the other viking children could lift a ship before he and a team of real vikings could. She had hoped – correctly – that Hiccup wouldn't try to lift it with a crane like they would, but waste his time trying to build something complicated to do it for him. They had the mast of their ship just breaking the surface, and she had been sure they would win today, but Hiccup's latest attempt had finally worked.

Astrid looked over with a small scowl in his direction. Then she returned her gaze to the crane and gave the order, "Pull!"

The back of the crane moved up a few feet, and Ruffnut (the lightest) crawled to the end of the long arm of the crane and tightened the rope. She flashed a thumbs-up to Tuffnut, who pulled a lever attached to a clamp, holding the rope tight. The rope was released, as well as the ratchet in the crane, and the counterweight pulled the ship up a few more feet, exposing more of the mast above the waves. They began to pull the rope back to the clamp, and start the procedure over again.

Gobber said to Hiccup, "Good job, boy. I'll fix up your machine, and we can do it again tomorrow! The fleet 'l be back up in no time with this contraption!"

Hiccup smiled again. He was glad that his inventions were finally helping the tribe.

Hiccup and Toothless walked around the bay, getting congratulations from other viking teams that had seen their display. They stopped where the other children were busy raising the counterweight again, putting slack on the line for Ruffnut to pull up.

Hiccup said, "Can we–?"

"Nope, we're fine." Astrid replied.

Apparently, Toothless didn't care. He jumped over and grabbed the rope in his mouth, pulling the other vikings off their feet. As he pulled, the ratchet locked the counterweight in place, high above the ground. With the quick jerk, Ruffnut fell off the crane, landing on Tuffnut.

"Hey!" he said, punching her.

"Hey!" She tackled him, and it quickly turned into a brawl on the rocks.

"That was awesome!" Snotlout exclaimed, "Can we do it again?"

Astrid glared at him, then at Hiccup's dragon, then at Hiccup. Toothless sensed her hostility, and walked away from the rope over to his rider.

Astrid deftly climbed the crane, retied the knot, and jumped down to release the clamp, raising their boat further. She called Snotlout and Fishlegs over, and began to pull the rope back over to the clamp.

"Thanks, Hiccup, but we can do this ourselves." Astrid proclaimed.

Hiccup ignored her, and once they had locked the crane's line in the clamp, he grabbed the counterweight rope. Toothless, happy to help, grabbed the line behind him.

Snotlout and Fishlegs gripped the rope, and Tuffnut and Ruffnut stopped fighting. Everyone stared at Astrid.

She walked over and grabbed the line herself. Ruffnut pushed Tuffnut away and began to climb to her position, and her twin moved back to the clamp.

Once again, Astrid yelled, "Pull!" and they began to lift the weight again. Hiccup tried to meet Astrid's eyes, but she turned away from him, locking her gaze on the crane. She hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt.

* * *

Matt Cruse loved his job.

He loved the feeling of being aloft – of being free, always moving, not being held back by the ground. He had been patrolling the lighter-than-air hydrium gas cells that gave the airship, the _Aurora_, its lift, searching for the sweet mango scent that signaled a leak.

Now he was in his bunk in the officer's quarters, instead of the familiar bunk he had used for all his years as a cabin boy.

After he had completed his school terms at the prestigious airship academy, he had been accepted to serve as assistant sailmaker on the luxury air liner _Aurora_. Before he had gone to the academy, he had served as a cabin boy on board the ship, and had hoped to become an officer, eventually working his way up to captain.

The current captain of the _Aurora_, Captain Walken, had heartily approved of his venture; however, he had been forced to deny Matt his promised promotion, as it had been taken by the son of the airship's owner. The captain knew Matt had the abilities to be an officer – he had more spirit than most of the other crewmen – but he did not have the credentials he needed to advance.

On that same trip across the Pacificus, they had run into a storm and were boarded by pirates, led by the notorious Vikram Szpirglas. They eventually discovered the island hideout of the pirates and escaped, in no small part due to Matt and one of the passengers, Kate de Vries.

Kate.

She had boarded the flight because of her dead grandfather's journal, which detailed large, panther-like creatures that lived their entire lives in the air, never landing, even for food or water. She was convinced that these creatures were real, and was determined to bring back some specimens. She developed a friendship with Matt, after he had brought her on a tour of the airship.

They did discover the cloud cats, and Matt had nearly been mauled by one. In the end, the cloud cat had saved him, knocking Szpirglas off the top of the _Aurora_ before the pirate could do the same to Matt.

Now that Kate was always busy lecturing about the cloud cats (along with other high-altitude life forms they had discovered, salvaging the "ghost" ship _Hyperion_ at 20,000 feet), and Matt was always moving from air port to air port, their relationship had been put on hold. While Matt was sure that he was in love with her – and her with him, though neither would admit it to anyone else – he was not sure. Kate was, among other things, unpredictable.

Only last year, when they were salvaging the _Hyperion_, she had tried to make him jealous by feigning interest with the salvage ship's captain – Hal Slater – and he had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. Every time Kate had entered his life, strange things had happened, and he had no idea what could happen next.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry if I got a little technical with the catapults; after my last measly fanfic, I'm going into as much detail as I can. I can't wait until you meet Kate – she's an interesting character, and I hope I can capture that.


	2. Chapter 2: The Storm

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 2

**The Storm**

* * *

Hiccup woke up at his desk. He had spent the entire night trying to figure out what had stopped his boat lifting device from working immediately. He hadn't figured it out – hence, he had fallen asleep, already being tired from hauling the second boat up with Astrid and the others.

He yawned and stretched, then bent down and removed his left boot, revealing the prosthetic metal leg that had replaced the one he had lost. It had been burned off while he and Toothless were fighting the "queen bee" dragon, the Red Death.

He checked to make sure it wasn't rusted, then slipped the boot back on over it. The footwear helped keep his new leg clean, and muffled the squeak it made while he was walking. He was getting more and more used to it every day, and he had almost lost the limp that was so persistent before.

He opened the door to his bedroom, and walked in.

"Toothless. . . " he called

"Toothle–hmf!" He was suddenly tackled by his dragon, which had jumped from one of the thick rafters of his house.

"Toothless? What's wrong, buddy?" He asked, as he worked his way out from under the dragon.

Toothless watched Hiccup as he slowly worked his way to his feet. When he had, Toothless looked towards the door, then back at Hiccup.

Hiccup looked at the door, but didn't see anything wrong.

He realized that Toothless still had his saddle on. He put a hand through one of the loops to steady himself, and looked back towards the door.

"Wha–ah!" As soon as Hiccup's hand had grabbed hold of the saddle, the dragon had sprinted forward, dragging the young viking with him. They bounded through the door (since Toothless had entered the house, doors had had a tendency of opening both ways), and crossed the kitchen.

Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, looked over to Hiccup's door when he heard the racket. It was still swinging wildly. Then he looked at the front door, which was just sliding shut. He shrugged, and continued eating his breakfast.

Outside, Toothless opened his mouth, dropping Hiccup's dragon harness. He spread his wings and looked at the boy, flicking his head towards the sky, obviously anxious to get moving.

Hiccup looked at his dragon, then down at the village. There were many people up this morning, ready to go to work, but surprisingly few dragons. Those that were outdoors were being pulled by their riders, twitching this way and that, irritated by something. They looked spooked, almost scared. Hiccup waited a moment, then scrambled up onto the back of his dragon. He attached his harness, secured his safety line, and put his feet in their stirrups.

"Where are we–whoa!" Toothless immediately took off, furiously beating his wings and tail, aiming for the high peak at the center of Berk.

After several minutes of furious climbing, they reached the top and landed. Toothless twisted his head around, looking at his rider. Then he looked out towards the sea.

Hiccup looked up. The mist that usually surrounded the old dragon nest seemed to be thinning, and he could see some viking ships coming in for the day's work.

"Huh, that's weird." Hiccup said. The wind seemed stronger today – of course, it was always windy up here, but today it was especially so. Perhaps it was the wind that had blown the mists away. Toothless looked at him and gave a light growl, then pointed to the horizon with his nose.

Hiccup looked up, squinting. He could see some ominous gray clouds appear over the water, with more coming into view every second. There was a storm coming to Berk, from the direction of the salvage site.

And it was going to be a big one.

* * *

Astrid had gotten up early today, much to the disappointment of her dragon, a deadly nadder, which had been hoping to sleep in.

She was anxious to be the first one there and begin patching the holes in their ship, still held afloat by the crane, and prepare it to set sail again. Her dragon was twitching erratically, and Astrid had to make constant adjustments to keep on course.

"Astrid!"

She heard her name being called, and turned around to see Hiccup riding on Toothless. They were diving, and gaining on her fast. Her dragon squawked, and jigged away from her flight path. Astrid steered with her knees, until she got the blue dragon back under her control again.

"What?" She called back.

"Astrid, look!" Hiccup pointed toward their destination.

She looked forward, and saw vikings climbing off the boats to join those already working. Then she looked up slightly–

"Oh man," she said. She could see the massive storm, moving from far behind the island, but closing the distance fast.

Hiccup yelled, "We have to get everyone out of there!"

"On it!" Astrid yelled in reply, urging her dragon faster.

Several vikings were holding onto the rope of a crane that's ratchet had broken. "Hold her steady, boys!" Gobber yelled, as he moved to repair it.

Just then, a brightly colored dragon swooped low over them, landing on a jagged rock above their heads. They heard Astrid call from the dragon's back, "Everyone, get moving! You have to get out of here!"

Hiccup and Toothless followed a moment later. "There's a storm coming, we have to get back to the village!" He added for her.

The vikings looked up over the old volcano that had once held the dragon nest, where a huge, spinning mass of gray thunder clouds had just come into view. Lightning flashed against the mountain, and the vikings all sprung into action.

The ones Gobber had been helping dropped their rope, and the crane's weight came crashing to the ground. There weren't nearly enough seaworthy boats to carry all of the vikings, so many of the recently lifted ones were released from their cranes, sinking low into the water as vikings jumped into them. Many were being furiously bailed out with buckets even as they sailed away from the nearest land, striking for the safety of the harbor at Berk.

For several minutes, Hiccup and Astrid rode their dragons around, rallying the remaining vikings into the least damaged boats. Hiccup heard a commotion, and looked over to see a boat quickly sinking with several screaming vikings aboard.

He steered Toothless towards them, and they landed on the boat. Hiccup looked around. There were far too many for Toothless to carry clear, they were just too heavy. There was no way he would be able to save the boat either; it was too heavily burned, and more water was coming in by the second. They must have been desperate to climb aboard this ship.

Hiccup looked to the front of the boat, and jumped off Toothless. He reached for his knife, but realized that he had forgotten to bring it. He looked around the front of the boat, and grabbed a small, jagged sword. Stupidly, he thought, _sloppy work. All _my_ swords are straight._

Well, he _was_ a blacksmith's apprentice.

He began to saw through the anchor rope. The curves did help a little, acting like serrations to help him cut. _Maybe they weren't so clueless after all._

When he was about halfway through, Toothless walked up and gnawed through the rest of the rope. Hiccup looked up, and saw that some water was washing over the sides of the boat, and the craft was riding very low in the water. The bailing had stopped, and on the lower deck the water was up to the other vikings' waists.

Hiccup threw the rope towards the other men in the boat and yelled to them, "Hold on to this!"

The vikings did as they were told, and Hiccup fastened the other end of the rope to Toothless' midsection. He climbed back onto his dragon, and they took off.

The boat's edge finally went below the waterline, and the boat quickly sank. The vikings held tightly to the rope, and Toothless jerked in the air, as the men he was pulling were buffeted by the current. He began to pull them, laboriously, toward Berk.

* * *

The next day, Toothless and Hiccup did sleep late. Hiccup woke up the next day in his house, Toothless curled around him. He got up slowly, carefully to avoid waking Toothless, and walked out the door. He saw that the sun had recently risen. It was hard to believe that they had slept through an entire night and most of a day, since the storm had come at the very beginning of yesterday.

They had succeeded in pulling the other vikings back to the village, and then had left to take shelter in their house. Stoick must have already been up, helping the other vikings whose homes had been blown down in the storm. Luckily, the vikings of Berk were very experienced in the art of rebuilding houses.

Hiccup left his house and walked down into the village. He saw Snotlout and Fishlegs stacking stones onto a partially destroyed wall, and walked over to them. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were putting roofing onto a nearby house.

"Have any of you guys seen Astrid?" Hiccup asked them.

"Nope, haven't seen her since the storm." Snotlout replied.

Hiccup kept searching the village, but he couldn't find anyone who knew where Astrid was, or had even seen her today. Hiccup knew that wasn't like her, she would have been the first one out to help with the rebuilding. He kept searching, but she was nowhere to be found.

After he had scoured the entire village, Hiccup looked out to the horizon, searching for Astrid, but saw nothing. Wait – there was something out there – a blue nadder was flying towards the island. Hiccup watched as it landed, exhausted, on the ground next to him. It was Astrid's nadder.

But Astrid wasn't on it.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well, so far so good. Not very well on that last part though – maybe I'll think of something else and replace it. Someday. Also, I didn't like how Hiccup lost his leg in the movie, but I wasn't just going to ignore that. I like to visualize him with both legs, so, I made him put a regular boot over it. Note that this doesn't carry into my other story, unless I add it later.


	3. Chapter 3: One Survivor

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 3

**One Survivor**

* * *

Matt Cruse had just reported for the end of his shift, and was walking towards the bridge. Even as a cabin boy, whenever he'd had the excuse, he would go there and watch the officers work. They hadn't paid him much mind as a cabin boy, but as a sailmaker, he was expected to rise in the ranks, and that meant knowing how the bridge worked.

As he looked around the catwalk that ran the entire center of the ship, he was still awed by its size. Though he had seen the sight many times, the incredible open space at the bottom of the ship and the huge gas cells at the top never ceased to amaze him. You could just see the thin line of the axial catwalk, where the sailmakers patrolled. Some of the other assistants were scared of falling from up there, with only the flexible walls of the gas cells to hold you on the alumiron walkway, but it held no fear for Matt.

As he walked in, and saw one of the new cabin boys – he couldn't remember his name – standing against the wall, observing the crew, and taking notes.

Matt had rarely seen someone else on the bridge do this, and went to stand alongside him.

The boy visibly stiffened, and Matt could see he was trying to write neater on his notepad.

He decided to try and start a conversation. He knew almost every old crewmember on this ship by sight, but his old best friend and roommate, Baz, had been rotated to another ship. He could use a new friend.

Matt started a conversation with him. "Hello." He said, holding out his hand to shake. "Matt Cruse."

The boy hesitated, but returned the gesture, shaking his hand. "Ensign McCoy, sir."

"Do you have a first name, Mr. McCoy?" Matt replied. Now that he was an officer (well, an _assistant_officer) he enjoyed the privilege of calling the younger cabin boys "mister." Captain Walken had done the same for him, and he had come to appreciate the gesture that the title gave.

"Malcolm, sir." The boy said.

Matt looked up to the bridge crew. "Do you plan on staying in the airship business, ensign?"

"It never hurts to have options, sir." The boy replied, lifting his notepad.

They continued their observations in silence, Malcolm scribbling down notes from time to time.

Several minutes later, they heard one of the bridge officers exclaim, "What is that?" pointing to the starboard side of the ship.

"Twenty degree right rudder, please." Captain Walken said. From their position at the back of the bridge, the two observing boys could not see what they were turning towards.

When the ship had swiveled slightly, Matt saw what they had turned towards.

"It's a debris field." he whispered.

Through the panoramic front-facing windows, there was a wide field of floating planks and logs in the water. The skeletal remnants of many small wooden ships could just be made out from the carnage.

If the air currents had not been against them at the higher altitudes, they wouldn't have been low enough to spot it. It was very strange – nowadays, while airships provided much of the shipping between continents, it was still cheaper to send goods on oceangoing vessels, though much slower.

However, these were not modern ships – they were far too small, and they should have had metal hulls, but these remains were all wooden. Then again, any metal ships would have sunken like rocks if something breached them, but it would take a lot more than a storm to sink an _entire_ convoy. Matt eliminated that possibility.

They could have been life boats, but Matt didn't know of any that had such large masts, and they had not received any distress calls over the wireless.

"Ten degree down angle, engines to two thousand RPMs. We'll comb the field for survivors." Captain Walken said, the very picture of calmness. He turned, acknowledging the two trainees' presence for the first time.

"Mr. Cruse, Mr. McCoy, please go to the rear cargo bay. We'll inform you if we see anyone."

Matt gave a crisp salute and quickly headed aft, Malcolm close behind. Before he left, he could hear the captain speaking to the radio officer, telling him to try and contact any nearby ships.

When they reached the cargo bay, two crewmebers were already there. one of them had already put a harness on, and was attaching it to the winch of the small cargo crane in the _Aurora_'s rear bay. The doors were opened, and they could hear the loud drone of the ship's propellers as the churned the air around them. Two of the four engine cars were suspended about forty feet from the lip of the bay, and Matt could see that they were slowing down. The Captain must have shut them down to make it easier for the rescue party.

Matt went over to assist the second crewmember with the crane, and Malcolm went over to the speaking tube, listening for any news from the bridge.

The three at the back scanned the waters below, searching for any sign of survivors, McCoy listening intently at the tube. After several minutes, he said, "The Captain says they've found one, and they're bringing the ship around."

Matt watched as the sea below them turned, and looked intently down below.

One of the other crewmen spotted a something, and called to McCoy, "I see them! Tell the Captain to hold her steady!"

Malcolm relayed the order, and Matt could hear the two remaining propellers, one on each side of the ship, go down in pitch.

Matt and the remaining crewmember pushed the crane out over the lip of the bay, and began to lower the winch. Matt still couldn't see anthing. . . Wait, there it was – a limp form, gripping a piece of the wreckage.

The crewman went down to the water slightly short of the person, and swam over to the plank of driftwood they were holding onto. Matt watched as he pulled out a spare harness and strapped it onto the body, attaching it to a length of safety cord dangling from his own harness.

The crewman gave a thumbs-up to them, and they turned on the small motor that powered the winch. When the two were high enough, they swung the crane back over, and pulled the limp form of the survivor out of the harness. It was a young girl, wearing strange clothing like Matt had never seen.

The crewman that had activated the winch put his ear to her chest and nodded, "She's still breathing!"

He handed her feet to Matt, and they carried her through the lower walkwayto the front compartment of the ship. They maneuvered her through the hallways to the _Aurora_'s small hospital, setting her down on a bed. The medical officer, Dr. Frank, immediately checked her pulse and breathing rate.

He said to them, "She'll be fine." He began to search around the drawers and cabinets of sickbay.

Matt and the crewman went back aft, and continued their vigil of the floating graveyard.

They kept searching for the rest of the day, but found no more survivors. They didn't find any bodies either, however, and Matt told himself that this was a good sign.

* * *

The next day, Hiccup saddled Toothless and double checked the harness. The vikings were going to send out what ships they had salvaged from the storm and begin a search for Astrid, but Hiccup and the other children were going to go ahead on their dragons to see if they could find her first.

They met at the old dragon training arena – while Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs kept their dragons at home, Snotlout's monstrous nightmare had burned his house down the first day it slept there, and the twin's zippleback had a tendency to fill the room with noxious gas whenever the children fought with each other. Which was often. Now, both of them were being held in the arena, the only place equipped to deal with them.

Hiccup pointed to a large map of the area surrounding the salvage sight. It was hastily drawn, basically consisting of the large volcano, which still held many of the dragons that hadn't relocated to Berk, and the small islets surrounding it. Luckily, the mist that usually filled the area had yet to replenish itself after the storm, and visibility would not be a problem.

"Fishlegs, you go through the stone pillars here, and see if Astrid grabbed hold of one of them. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you fly around the island here, and see if she took shelter. If you don't find her, check inside the nest. Does anyone have any questions?" Hiccup finished.

Tuffnut answered, "Yeah. Why do _we _have to go where all the dragons are? Why can't, like, Snotlout do it?"

"Because you guys are louder. With two of you, there's twice the chance she'll find you." Hiccup answered.

"Hey!" Snotlout exclaimed, "You don't think I can be loud enough? I can totally be louder than those two!"

"Um, I have a question." Fishlegs said. "Why are _we_ searching here," He drew a circle on the map with his finger, surrounding the volcano island, "And _you're_ searching here?" He drew another circle, covering the whole rest of the map.

"Because," Hiccup replied, "It's going to take a lot longer to search the island, and Toothless can fly farther than any of your dragons."

"Hey!" Snotlout said again, "My dragon can fly way further than yours!"

"Oh really." Hiccup said. "And where exactly _is_ your dragon?"

Snotlout turned around, and realized that his monstrous nightmare had deserted him. He began to search around the arena, murmuring "C'mon, boy, c'mon. . ."

"Alright, let's go." Hiccup finally said. The four Viking children, followed by their dragons, left the arena, as Snotlout kept searching for his.

It lifted its head, and contemplated answering the calls, but decided to continue lying in the sun atop the chain link arena roof.


	4. Chapter 4: The Search

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 4

**The Search**

* * *

"Don't worry Astrid! I'll save you!" Snotlout exclaimed, in his most heroic voice. "Well, how was that?" He asked.

His dragon looked at him in obvious disinterest.

"Aw, come on, buddy! Give me some support!" He cried.

The monstrous nightmare lowered its head, and began napping.

"I'm here for you, Astrid! Grab my arm!" He tried. "Well, how was that one?"

The dragon dosed through its rider's many poor attempts at heroism, until it saw something small dart through the rocks nearby. It went to go chase it, leaving Snotlout to his own devices.

* * *

Fishlegs rode on the back of his gronckle, looking in crevices and whispering "Astrid?" to the rocks.

"Astrid?" he whispered, looking around timidly. "Oof!"His dragon suddenly hit a rock wall, and landed on an outcropping.

Fishlegs got off and tried to wake the gronckle, but to no avail. One on the dragon's bee-like wings was still buzzing, so Fishlegs reached out and grabbed it. It stopped moving. He let go, and it resumed flapping. He grabbed it again.

There was the sound of rocks moving, and Fishlegs saw a shadow move. He dropped the wing (which resumed flapping) and looked around. He squealed when he saw a pair of eyes looking at him. He began backing toward the opposite wall of the outcrop. As he did, the creature advanced, still in the shadows.

"I, uh, my flesh doesn't taste very good" he stammered, "and I had a smoked eel for breakfast this morning, so you would probably have to leave my corpse after you sucked all the blood out–" The creature moved out of the shadows– "Ah!"

The small terrible terror scampered closer, stopping at the viking's foot, which was just about the same size as its body.

"Aw, you're just a little dragon." Fishlegs said, smiling.

A dozen more pairs of eyes peaked out.

"Uh-oh"

The large viking boy began running in circles around his gronckle. The terrible terrors, delighted at his new game, jumped after him.

* * *

Ruffnut and Tuffnut weren't fairing much better. They were searching through the rocks, but the zippleback didn't seem to understand the concept of _searching_, and was flying in large circles through the stone pillars.

"We already passed this place!" Tuffnut said.

"No we didn't!" His twin sister yelled back.

"I've seen this place before! Give me the map!" He said, reaching over to the dragon's other neck.

"_You_said we didn't need a map!" Ruffnut replied, "So I get to keep it!"

Tuffnut punched her on the shoulder, and she screamed, "Hey!" punching him back. The two began a mid-air brawl, while their zippleback continued flying in circles.

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless patrolled the skies. They were searching for the debris field, but they hadn't seen so much as a plank of driftwood.

At least, _Hiccup_ hadn't. Toothless suddenly veered off the course they were taking, and began beating his wings harder.

"What is it, Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

He squinted at the horizon, hoping to see something, but he knew that his dragon's eyes were much better than his.

After several minutes, he spotted the debris field, with something over it. Something big – and it just floated there, without any wings or visible methods of defying gravity. Hiccup brought Toothless lower, and landed him on the skeletal frame of a burned out ship. After a few minutes of observation, they took off, and headed for Berk

* * *

When all the vikings returned home, the fleet was still getting ready to sail. The other young vikings had, unsurprisingly, failed to find Astrid. Hiccup relayed his discovery of the debris field, and the thing floating above it.

"I don't think it was a dragon," Hiccup said, "It was. . . Strange. but it might have Astrid."

"Well, we can be after it tomorrow." Gobber said.

"No." Hiccup said forcefully. "We have to go _now_. We can't let that thing get away if it does have Astrid. We can leave tonight."

Gobber thought the boy was showing some uncharacteristic heroism. But then, that was Hiccup, never what you'd expect him to be.

* * *

After Matt and the rest of the _Aurora_'s crew had searched the debris for six hours, they had found no one else. There was precious little light left in the day, and even with such a good excuse, delays were not taken lightly in the airship industry. The Captain decided to return to their original course to Paris without waiting another night.

There was only one hour until his shift on the axial catwalk, and Matt decided to go to the infirmary to see the girl they had pulled from the water. Without the stress of the search, she became much more mysterious – the lone survivor to a massive wreck, sunk far to the north in outdated ships.

As he walked down the lower catwalk from the aft compartment, he looked around the innards of the _Aurora_, as he had so many times before.

It always amazed him how all the airship's rich passengers could spend so much time on their trans-oceanic voyages, without even stopping to glance at the amazing ship that carried them. There were tours of the ship given on every voyage, but there were usually very few guests. Still, he would miss giving them, now that he was no longer a cabin boy. Kate, on her first voyage, had been the only guest on that tour. Matt was also confident that that was when he was chosen to be the victim in all of her hair-brained schemes, of which there had been many.

When he was about halfway to the main compartment block, he noticed Captain Walken coming in the opposite direction.

Matt stepped aside to let him through, saying, "Sir."

The Captain walked up to Matt, and stopped. "At ease, sailmaker."

"Assistant sailmaker, sir."

"Don't humble yourself, Cruse; you're more qualified than half of my officers. If I can manage, you'll be promoted the day you've passed your mandatory limit."

"Thank you, sir." Matt replied, still standing to the side of the walkway.

"How long have you been on shift, Cruse?" Walken asked.

"Seven hours, sir. I woke up just before we found the debris field."

"Excellent." He replied, "I'll walk with you."

He turned around and began walking forward. The walkway was not very wide, and Matt walked behind the Captain to avoid crowding him.

"The good doctor made a visit to the bridge," Walken said, "and ordered me a few hours of R and R."

That was unsurprising – they had begun the search at the very end of Walken's shift, and he had missed his standard hours of rest, few as they were.

They stopped at the forward ladder. Walken said, "McCoy came straight here, just before you. He hasn't slept for eighteen hours, and I was hoping you would be willing to relieve him of his shift."

Even if it wasn't the Captain asking me to do it, Matt would have gone up there anyway. The crow's nest had been one of his favorite jobs, and though he would have to postpone his visit to the infirmary, he was glad for the excuse to be in the familiar glass bulb, acting as the eyes and ears of the ship. It always amazed him how Captain Walken knew exactly what to do with every member of his crew.

"No problem at all, sir." Matt said, and began climbing the ladder.

He climbed up the two levels of the ladder, passing the axial catwalk, to the very top of the ship. He found Malcolm, huddled against the back end of the dome with his hand clutching the speaking tube. "If you pant much louder, they'll hear you on the bridge." Matt commented.

"Sorry, sir." The cabin boy replied, "I'm not fond of the cold, and I didn't have time to go to my cabin and get a jacket."

Matt said, "The Captain sent me to relieve you."

"Don't worry sir, I can handle this." He replied.

"No." Matt said back, "Go get some sleep. You look terrible."

"You won't be cold, sir?" McCoy asked.

Matt hadn't thought of that – he didn't have his jacket either. However, he had been in the crow's nest many nights before, and the cold never really bothered him. "I'll be fine," he said, "now go get some sleep."

The boy eagerly (though he tried to hide it) climbed down the ladder and out of the cramped quarters.

Matt grabbed the speaking tube, and said, "This is Cruse, I'm relieving Mr. McCoy in the crow's nest."

From the officer of the watch, he got, "Cruse? I was wondering when you'd get back up there. Looks like I've won myself five pounds."

Matt laughed at the officer's antics. The crew was always totally formal on the ground and with the passengers, but Captain Walken allowed some fun to be had behind his back while they were in the air. He was an excellent Captain.

Matt looked up at the stars. They were like old friends to him, giving him greetings after his long absence. He looked up, and spotted the Andromeda constellation. He turned his head to the right, looking for Polaris.

He spotted only black night sky – wait, there it was again. That was odd. He began searching the dome, and again noticed that some of the stars were being blocked.

He backed away from the glass and broadened his field of view, and could just make out a black shape moving around the ship. It disappeared behind the ship's back section. He looked out to the other side, waiting, until he spotted it again.

He grabbed the speaking tube again. "Crow's nest reporting – there seems to be something circling the ship. I can't make out what it is."

"Probably just an albatross, Cruse." was the reply.

"Negative, it's too dark. I'm not sure what it is."

"Could it be an airship?" The voice was worried now. This situation was ominously similar to the first time pirates had struck the _Aurora_.

"No, it's too fast. Maybe a small ornithopter." Matt replied, still following the shape.

Ornithopters were small craft driven by artificial wings, which flapped by the power of small internal combustion engines. They were much small than zeppelins, with much shorter range, but they could land and take off from airships

"It's directly ahead of us now, circling to port."

He heard through the speaking tube, "I'll see if we can get the spotlight on it."


	5. Chapter 5: Boarding the Aurora

I just want to make one thing clear after a review I got – the lifting gas is _hydrium_, not hydrogen or helium. Hydrium is an imaginary gas made up by the author of _Airborn_, lighter than either of the real gasses. It's the same situation with _alumiron_, the metal that makes up much of the ship.

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 5

**Boarding the **_**Aurora**_

* * *

The giant floating craft had moved on when the children returned to the sight of the crash, and they couldn't find Astrid among the debris, so again they searched. And again, Hiccup found it.

It was very dark, and he began circling the thing – as it moved, it made a loud droning sound, and was extremely slow, compared to Toothless. He went as close as he dared and tried to make out what it was. It was difficult to see, but it had been dark for some time, and Hiccup's eyes had adjusted. The surface of the thing looked strong enough.

Hiccup contemplated moving closer to see if he could land on it, but before he could, his vision was suddenly filled with painfully bright light. Toothless flapped his wings, and in a single powerful stroke, they were above the brightness.

They may have escaped one danger, but now they were flying blind. Toothless, unable to see where he was going, crashed into the enormous ship, tearing through the fabric, and slamming into a ribbed metal girder. Hiccup was on the opposite side of it, and the hook of the safety line snapped under the strain. Toothless, after he had jerked himself free, hit the top of the gas cell, unable to breathe the air within. He fired out a blue ball of fire, which easily burned a hole through the fabric, and flew up and out through the opening.

* * *

Matt had caught only a glimpse of the thing in the spotlight before it had soared away, and sheared into one of the port gas cells. Only a second later, a bright blue projectile flew out of the ship, creating another hole. Matt could imagine the hiss of the hydrium as it escaped its airtight prison, quickly leaping from the ruptured cell and destroying the _Aurora_'s neutral buoyancy.

He was tempted to go out and try to fix it, but he had nothing to patch the holes with. He yelled into the speaking tube, "That thing just crashed into us! I'm going to get a patching kit!" He climbed down the ladder, and began rapidly closing the distance between himself and Malcolm, who was still decending. The younger cabin boy was not nearly as experienced on the long ladder.

He yelled down, "McCoy, hurry up!"

The other boy looked up, and began to climb down more quickly. Still, with about ten feet of ladder left, Matt could go no lower without crunching Malcolm's hands beneath his shoes.

When they reached the bottom, Malcolm asked, "What's going on?"

Matt ran to the nearest end of the catwalk, the bow end, and grabbed the emergency patching kit that was positioned there. As he ran back, he gave the boy an answer.

"Something crashed into the ship, left a hole." He yelled. He began sprinting for the ladder.

When he had just begun to climb it, Malcolm yelled, "Wait!"

Matt looked over, and saw that a part of the goldbeater's skin – the impermeable fabric that made up the gas cells – was sagging. He realized that there might be something in it.

He grabbed the knife from the patching kit. He hated to puncture his own ship, but decided that they would want to get the thing out before it rolled further away from the catwalk. He slashed through the fabric, and reached in. The smell of sweet mangoes leapt out as even more of their precious lifting gas escaped.

He grabbed the thing, realizing that it was a boy. He gripped him around the shoulders as he stopped struggling, and managed to squeeze him out through the tear he had made. Malcolm helped Matt ease the boy to the floor – he had fainted after his time in the gas cells, where he could not breathe. Hydrium was not poisonous, but it could easily suffocate a person, as it displaced all the air around it.

The hole at the bottom of the gas cell would allow regular, heavy air to leak into the gas cell, speeding the deflation. Matt threw down some patchwork and glue from the kit, telling Malcolm, "Fix that!" and ran again towards the ladder. He climbed as fast as he could to the crow's nest, and unlocked and opened the hatch. The cold wind bit at his unprotected skin, but he disregarded it and ran over to the first hole.

It would be dangerous work – the hole was sufficiently far down the side to be sloped at quite an angle, and he had no safety harness, but he couldn't spare the time to go down and grab one. Luckily, it was very near one of the circular girders, and he could use the crossbars as hand and footholds through the flexible cloth.

When he reached the hole, he quickly patched it, and looked over to the next one. It was higher, not at so much of an angle, but it was further from the relative grip of the girder.

Matt could faintly hear the pipes far below him jettisoning ballast as the officer of the watch tried to keep the ship level, lightening the _Aurora_ to prevent it from falling out of the sky.

The noise steeled his resolve. He would save his ship.

He climbed up the girder, then began inching out along the fabric. As he moved away from the alumiron support, the fabric became less taught, the normally pressured cells deflating more every second. Eventually, he was able to grab handfuls of the fabric, and hold himself to the ship well enough to cope with the wind.

He finally reached the hole, and grabbed the cloth patching strips attached to his belt with one hand, while the other held his grip to the ship. He had some trouble getting the glue on, spilling some of it on his pants, and he turned that side away from the skin of the ship so that he wouldn't be glued to the ship – as much as he didn't want to fall off, the idea of being stuck out here in the cold was not appealing.

As he stuck the patching to the hole, he observed the seared edges, and realized that something must have burned its way through. He didn't know of any bird or airborne creature that could do such a thing, and after his discoveries with Kate, he was more knowledgeable than most.

Unseen to Matt, when Toothless had lost his rider, he had lost his ability to fly as well. While he was able to pull himself out of the hole he had burned, he was not able to fly away. He had crept closer to the boy that had come out of the strange metal-glass dome, thinking it might be Hiccup. He loosed a short roar to get his attention over the howling wind, his black figure obscured by the night.

Matt was startled, and lost his grip. He began clawing for the surface, but he was already going too fast to get a good grasp.

He was almost to the point where the outer skin of the ship became nearly vertical, and finally began to scream. He was almost off the ship when he felt a sharp tug on his collar, stopping him.

"Gotchya!" He heard, and looked up to his rescuer. Mr. Wicker, the head sailmaker, was just above him, one hand grabbing onto the collar of Matt's shirt, the other gripping his safety line. Matt knew the other end of the line was attached to the handrail that ran the full length of the _Aurora_'s top, more than capable of holding their combined weights.

The elder sailmaker looked over Matt's patching job, and nodded. He pulled them both up to the top of the ship.

"I'd hoped you'd be stupid enough to go out there without a harness. We're losing ballast fast." He shouted over the wind. They made their way back to the crow's nest, and Matt pulled the hatch shut. Wicker went to the speaking tube, and reported to the bridge.

" –the hole's been patched up, you should be able to stop draining ballast soon."

"Excellent. Mr. Wicker, Mr. Cruse, please report to the bridge." It was hard to distinguish specific voices after they had traveled up the long brass tube, but Matt thought it was Captain Walken talking. Someone must have woken him after they started losing hydrium. Or, perhaps, he had been roused by the unnatural movement of the ship.

"Yes sir." Wicker replied. He started down the ladder, followed by Matt.

When they reached the axial catwalk, there was no sign of Malcolm. Matt thought that he must have carried the boy away to sickbay; a crewman must have come to help him get the boy down the ladder.

They continued down to the lower catwalk. Then it him – the boy had been in the same gas cell as the creature that had flown into it. He must have been being carried by it when they crashed.

He searched his memory, trying to recall what it had looked like in that short second in the spotlight. He thought there had been a discrepancy of color on top of it – could the boy have been _riding_ on the creature?

They were about halfway down the catwalk now, and they heard a strange clinking noise – Matt was reminded of the sound the injured cloud cat had made, when it had entered the _Aurora_ and began gliding from beam to beam down below, where the gas cells weren't obstructions. He looked up, but saw nothing, though the catwalk blocked most of his view.

Toothless, meanwhile, had followed them down the ladder. He had had some trouble with the latch on the door to the crow's nest, but with enough gentle pounding, it eventually gave in. He squeezed his way into the dome, and looked down the ladder to see the retreating figure he had glanced on the top of the giant floating contraption.

He again squeezed his way down the ladder, quickly descending it a few meters. His claws made a clicking sound as they gripped the metal rungs. He tested his wings, and the fabric wall on one side gave easily, allowing him to haphazardly glide to the metal strip below. He walked back to the ladder and peered down a small square hole yet again. He squeezed his way through that opening as well, gliding to the floor below. He landed to the side of his intended target, on the taught fabric, and walked forward underneath the metal walkway.

Matt and Wicker were still walking down the lower catwalk to the descending stairs that led to the forward block, when they heard the strange clinking sound yet again. They looked back the way they had come, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. They turned and kept walking.

Matt thought he heard a rustling sound beneath his feet, and looked down. Through the perforated metal walkway, he saw something move forward below him, and he jumped. Wicker turned around, startled.

"What is it, Cruse?" He asked.

Matt looked forward. Near the entrance to the forward block, pipes and girders that ran along the belly of the airship angled up, forming a sort of ramp to the side of the walkway. The creature climbed up this, and jumped over to the metal catwalk. It turned its head, and growled at the two humans. It was blocking their way to the bridge.


	6. Chapter 6: Unscheduled Landing

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 6

**Unscheduled Landing**

* * *

The chief sailmaker spotted the fear in Matt's eyes, and turned around. He too froze at the sight of the strange black creature standing in their path. "Cruse, is that a cloud cat?" He whispered.

Matt didn't think so. It had almost the same proportions as a cloud cat, but it had no feathers, and its wings were independent of its four legs. Also, it was walking, while a cloud cat would have no need for such abilities, as most of them never landed in their life.

"No," Matt whispered back, "I've never seen anything like it before. Just don't move, let's see what it does."

* * *

When Toothless realized that the two humans were not vikings, he became suspicious. Before he had gotten to know Hiccup, every man he had ever met had tried to kill him, and he was already on edge in this strange ship – he was walking, but he could feel that he was still in the air. It was an unsettling feeling.

When he was sure the humans were carrying no weapons, he turned around to see what they had been walking towards. He saw a large metal structure, much like the houses in Berk, with a door. He walked over to it, and tried to open it. He sniffed, and could smell his rider's scent on the doorway.

The door didn't budge the first time, but he pounded on it a few times and finally broke through. He leapt inside, trying to pick up any trace of Hiccup's path.

He bounded down several hallways, once going around a corner and almost running into a strange woman in odd, bright clothing. As he leapt past, she screamed a loud, high pitched sound that hurt the dragon's ears.

When he picked up his viking's scent again, he traced it to another doorway. This one also wouldn't open on the first push, but it was much easier to ram open than the last one.

When he looked around the new room, he spotted Hiccup lying on a bed, with another strange non-viking man leaning over him, and a young boy standing next to them. Toothless roared loudly at them, and they looked up, startled.

They were both terrified of the strange black dragon that stood before them, and they froze in fear. When Toothless began to move towards them, however, they quickly scampered out of the way. Toothless kept his head turned towards them as he stepped closer to his viking.

Deciding that the two humans weren't a threat, Toothless lifted his body and placed his front feet on Hiccup's bed. He nuzzled his rider's head, and heard him lightly groan.

He smelled another familiar scent over the almost overpowering one of fruit, and looked over to the other bed to see Astrid, also asleep.

Then, he heard more people enter the room. He put his feet back on the floor, and growled at them. Two were the men he had seen earlier – the young one who was not Hiccup, and the older one, wearing a strange set of clothing. The third man stood in front, and held a metal rod out in front of him. He held it like a weapon, though it was like none Toothless had ever seen.

* * *

Matt watched as the creature growled at Captain Walken, spreading its wings to protect its quarry.

The Captain was holding the ship's rifle, the only weapon carried aboard the ship. While he had taken it out once before, when they had been boarded by pirates, it had never been fired aboard the _Aurora_.

While they were locked in a stalemate, the creature gazing at Walken while he held the rifle, the Captain asked Matt, "Mr. Cruse, what do you make of this?"

"I don't know, sir." Matt answered. "It's not any creature I've ever seen, or heard of."

"Why would it come here?" Wicker asked. "If it's going to attack someone, why come to the infirmary? To get an easy kill?"

Matt looked at the strange leather contraption on the creatures back – and at the harness the boy was wearing over his clothes. It looked a lot like the harness Wicker was currently wearing, designed to connect him securely to the ship in case he fell. . .

"No," Matt answered, as realization struck him, "Maybe he's protecting them – look at the saddle on it! Maybe the boy was _riding_ it when he fell!"

Walken was still looking down the sights of the gun. "Mr. Cruse, do you think it will attack us?"

Matt wished the Captain hadn't asked him, but he _was_ the most qualified when dealing with unknown aerial animals, and he had gotten lucky with them so far. "It didn't attack us on the catwalk, sir, when it had the chance." He answered.

The Captain slowly lowered the rifle. The beast watched as the barrel went down, and Walken set it on the ground. When he stepped back, the beast visibly relaxed, with no weapons pointed at it. It must have been a smart beast.

The thing continued to stare at the three crewmen, now being joined by the doctor and the cabin boy who had been cowering in the corner.

"Dr. Frank," The Captain asked, "Will the boy be alright if we leave him?"

"He's just in shock from breathing the hydrium, sir." The doctor answered. "He should wake up soon enough."

"And the girl?" Walken asked.

"She was getting restless, sir, but I still couldn't revive her. I put her on some sleep medication, but she should be fine."

"Good." The Captain stated. "We should be docking in Paris by tomorrow. I'll radio ahead and cancel our docking at the Eiffel Tower, and have security meet us on the ground. We'll leave the beast here for now, and post a guard at the door.

He walked out, carefully grabbing the rifle by the barrel, and the rest of the crewmen followed him. When the last person had left, he locked eyes with the strange creature, and shut the door. The knob had been broken by the creature on its way in, and the door didn't click into place, but it stayed closed.

"Mr. Cruse, could you please take the first shift." He held out the rifle. "If you hear anything strange going on, call for me immediately."

Matt hesitantly took the rifle, and pointed it at the floor.

"Everyone else, return to your duties. Except you, Mr. McCoy, try and get some sleep. I'll cancel your duties for the rest of the voyage."

* * *

Guard duty was one thing Matt had never experienced in all his years as cabin boy. It didn't help that his first experience was with an armed weapon, protecting a door from an unknown, yet obviously dangerous creature.

Right now, it was lying on the floor in between the two beds that held the unconscious patients. Matt knew this because the broken door would occasionally creak open, and the black animal would lift its head as Matt cautiously reached in and shut it.

As he sat by the door with the rifle across his lap, Matt pondered the creature in the infirmary. It was nothing like any bird he could recall, and the only flying mammals he knew were bats and the cloud cats – and this was obviously neither.

As he mused, the door creaked open again. Matt turned and reached in to close it again, but when he looked in, he could not see the black creature in its usual spot. He jumped back from the door when he realized that it had walked over and grabbed the inner door handle, and was now opening the door itself. Matt fumbled with the gun, pointing it at the creature, when a movement caught his eye.

The boy had woken up, like Dr. Frank had said he would, and was watching Matt with a stunned expression. The creature left the entrance and leapt back to the boy, and Matt slammed the door shut.

He was breathing hard, and jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around to see another crewmember behind him. Matt sighed in relief.

"I'm here to relieve you," The crewman said. "Are they still in there?"

"Yes." Matt said. "The boy's awake, I'm going to go tell the captain.

Matt surrendered the rifle and quickly walked through the familiar hallways of the _Aurora_ to the bridge. When he got there, he asked, "Captain?"

The Captain Walken turned around; he looked terrible. While to anyone else, he may just seem to be a regular captain, years of experience showed Matt the subtle signs – the slight darkness under his eyes, the small drooping of his shoulders. Matt realized that the Captain had gotten almost no sleep the night before – if any at all. However, it was not the first time Walken had gone sleepless for his ship, and Matt was certain it would not be the last.

"What is it, Mr. Cruse?"

"Sir," Matt replied, "The boy is awake."

"Is he alright?" The Captain asked.

"I think so, sir. He didn't say anything."

"Very well." The Captain responded. "We're about to come in for a landing. I want you to go back to the infirmary, and wait for me there. On your way there, get Mr. Wicker, as well. Perhaps it will help if the creature recognizes the people who bring it off the ship.

Matt looked out the front view windows, and saw a large open field – the primary mooring point for most of the airships docked in Paris. While the Aurora had originally been scheduled to dock at the Eiffel tower, for the benefit of its first class passengers, they were now landing in the field, where it would be easier to transport the strange creature off the ship.

* * *

Matt did as he was told, and within a half-hour, Captain Walken had joined the three crewmen at the infirmary door. The man holding the gun offered it to the Captain, but he waved it off, and said, "Keep that pointed at the ground. I don't want to spook our guests."

He walked through the small crowd and pushed open the door. When he did, the boy, sitting on the bed, and the creature, curled at his feet, looked up. The creature stood up and began to growl, but Walken stepped into the room. He gestured for the others to follow him.

The animal began to move forward, but the boy said something to it, and it calmed down. Matt didn't recognize the language –it certainly wasn't English, and while he had been studying at the airship academy, he had picked up some French. He was pretty sure that wasn't what the boy had used, either.

Captain Walken asked, "Do you speak English?"

The boy looked at him, confused.

The Captain tried again, this time in French. The result was the same.

He gestured to the boy, then pointed towards the door. The boy looked over at the unconscious girl on the bed beside him.

The Captain said calmly, "Dr. Frank, please get out your stretcher for the girl."

The doctor complied, and the boy watched as he pulled out the small cart. When he had finished unfolding it, he looked over to the Captain, who nodded. The medical officer looked worried, but pushed the cart slowly alongside the bed. The black creature stood up and began to growl again, but the boy said something that seemed to calm it down. He watched as the doctor transferred the girl from the bed to the stretcher.

When he had finished, Dr. Frank walked back over to the door, and the boy and the creature followed.

They left the hospital wing, traveling through the empty hallways. Eventually, they reached the grand hall, where the ramp was lowered to the ground. Almost every passenger on board was in the room, held back by crewmen. Matt was sure Captain Walken would have preferred to have a less dramatic exit, but at least now the snotty rich passengers would have a good excuse as to why they had to miss their appointment in the Jewels Verne restaurant on top of the Eiffel tower.

The crowd gasped when the strange procession entered the hall. Matt looked over to the boy, who had stayed silent over the entire journey, and saw that he was looking around at the ship and passengers in wonder. Though, judging by his own clothing, he probably had never seen anything like a hall full of some of the richest, vainest people in Paris.

When they exited the craft, they found only one member of the airfield's security, holding a small pistol at his hip. From a look at the man's uniform, he was likely one of the lesser people on the job, and Matt suspected that the pistol wasn't even loaded.

When the black creature came down the ramp, the security guard jumped, and fumbled with his weapon – security must have turned a blind eye to Captain Walken's warning about an unknown creature on board. Matt was irritated at their lack of trust in even one of their most respected airship captains.

The guard finally lifted his gun at the creature, and it lowered itself to the ground and growled at the man. Walken calmly stepped over and lowered the shaking barrel of the gun in the man's hands. He told the guard, "He doesn't like it when you point a weapon at him – just keep the barrel to the ground, and you'll be fine."

The guard nodded, and looked at the group. "Sir, you'll have to leave that rifle on board," He said, gesturing to the crewman with the ship's rifle, "Only security can carry loaded weapons on the premises."

The Captain walked over, and took the rifle from his crewman's hands. "If my crewman can't carry this, I will. No one who would argue against a crewman will argue against a captain."

The guard looked uncertain, but nodded in agreement. They started walking towards the security office at the edge of the airfield. Dr. Frank had a hard time rolling the stretcher, so the crewman who had been holding the rifle helped him fold up the wheels and carry it. When they neared the office, Wicker nudged Matt's shoulder.

"Cruse, isn't that the De Vries girl?"

Matt groaned, eyeing her figure in the distance. Kate had, with her implacable timing, chosen the absolute worst time to pay him a visit.


	7. Chapter 7: Miss De Vries

Sorry for the two month absence – I had a rough move, and for the longest time, my computer was nowhere to be found. Then, the flash drive I keep my stories on disappeared, so I couldn't work on the chapters I had started.

But, everything's in order now, and I'm back. Unfortunately, I'm much busier now, and the chapters are only going to start coming in slower. This one was a bit rushed, so expect plenty of mistakes. I may proofread and re-release it later.

**Strange Situations**

Chapter 7

**Miss De Vries**

* * *

As soon as we were in sight, Kate ran over and joined us. She immediately began talking. "Matt! I was waiting at the Jewels Verne for you, when I heard you were coming here. The man said you had a security risk on board, or some such nonsense. Who's this?" She asked, looking at the strange boy. Before Matt could answer, she continued.

"He doesn't look like a security risk. Where did you find him? What is he wearing?"

Just then, she noticed the strange black creature walking next to them. She walked over, totally unfazed by the strange nature of the animal. She began looking it over, undoubtedly creating a mental skeleton of it, or some other biological map that was beyond Matt's comprehension.

Thankfully, Walken said, "Miss De Vries, could you please step back from the creature. It is an unknown animal, and could likely be dangerous."

Kate frowned, but moved away, falling into step beside Matt. She respected Captain Walken, but in all likelihood, she would once again forget the meaning of the word "dangerous" and begin studying it again.

When they reached the office, the guards at the door stiffened, pointing their pistols at the creature. Walken stopped them before the creature could become irritated by the weapons, and walked forward alone to speak to them, leaving the rifle with Wicker. They let him in the door, but once they did, they began to timidly look over at the creature. The boy seemed to do a good job calming it down, but Matt still hoped the Captain came back soon. Dr. Frank lowered the wheels on the stretcher to allow himself and the other crewmember a break from carrying it.

Walken came out a few minutes later, with an important-looking uniformed man in tow.

"Well, what is it? What was so Important I– " He stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed the strange black animal in the group. "What is that? Some kind of foreign leopard?"

"No, sir." Captain Walken answered, "That is what we brought you out here for. This creature crashed into our ship, with this boy–" The Captain pointed to the boy in question "–riding it."

"He was _riding_ the creature? You're certain?" The manager asked.

The Captain nodded, "As far as we could tell. It seems docile enough, but I don't want to take any chances."

"Very well. The man replied. "We have a small holding cell here. We can put it there until the proper authorities can be contacted."

"You will not!"

_Please, God, don't let that voice be real._ Matt thought. Unfortunately, Kate _had_ spoken.

"This is a newly discovered species. It will be brought to the university–" Kate was undoubtedly referring to the university where she was conducting her studies "–where it can be studied."

A confused look crossed the man's face. "I'm sorry miss, but until we can contact the proper authorities . . ."

"I _am _the authorities! I've discovered numerous aerial species (_three, Matt counted in his head. One of them a small bug._), and I am a leading expert in unknown aerial animals." (_A bit of a stretch, considering she is the _only_ expert._)

The man recoiled slightly, startled by the wrath of this sixteen-year-old science authority. He stammered, "Well, if you can prove your credentials. . ."

"He can tell you." Kate said, turning to Matt. "Matt, aren't I an expert?"

Kate obviously didn't understand that as a lowly sailmaker, the security officer wasn't obligated to treat him as a reference. "Kate, I. . ."

Luckily, he was saved by Captain Walked. "I can vouch for the girl. When we reach the university, we will see to it that they send confirmation."

The man still looked uncertain. "I think I will just telephone them. . ."

"By all means." The Captain said.

Kate gave him the number, and he disappeared for some time. He eventually came back out, and told them they could go.

"I'd call a cab, but I don't think one will be big enough for all of us. And I don't think any cab would be willing to take that–" Kate said, looking at the creature. "perhaps we could walk?"

"Mrs. De Vries." Walken said. "This creature may not seem hostile, but I do think we should keep it off the streets. It would be like walking a panther through the streets of Paris, and I think we should keep this creature as low-key as possible."

"But it's an undiscovered new species!" Kate protested. "They're going to learn about it eventually, why not now?"

Matt groaned internally. Kate could be very stubborn.

"Perhaps you could call the university, and bring back a cage for the creature?" The Captain suggested.

Kate's face lit up again. "Excellent idea!"

* * *

After much pushing and shoving, they did finally get the creature in the cage. The boy had protested at the beginning, but they must have made it clear that without the black creature getting in the cage, they wouldn't be going anywhere. In the end, the boy sat on next to the cage, in the small amount of room on the bed of the truck. Kate called a cab, and Matt, Captain Walken, and Whicker followed behind.

When they were finally back at the university, they tried to get the cage out of the back of the truck, but the creature inside it was too heavy. They settled on letting it out for the time being, letting it walk itself into the university.

Captain Walken said, I must return to the ship. The company representative will not be happy with the delays, and I must report to him. Whicker, please accompany Mister Cruse and Miss De Vries."

Walken climbed back into the taxi, and it pulled away in the direction they had come from. The procession began walking towards the university.

"Where exactly are we going?" Whicker asked. He looked quite comical, on the front lawn of a grand university, in his sailmaker harness. He had taken his leather helmet off, and held it to his side.

"To my room, of course." Kate replied.

Kate had her own apartment in Paris, but of course her parents would have gotten her a dorm at the university as well. Even if they didn't fully approve of their daughter's enterprises, they wouldn't allow her anything other than first-class. Both her rooms were probably bigger than two of the dorms Matt had stayed in at the airship academy.

Luckily, it seemed to be an off day in the university, and they met no one in the hallways. That is, until they turned the corner to find themselves face-to-face with a gentleman in a top hat and a suit that was probably worth more than a month of Matt's pay.

"Ah, Mrs. De Vries, I was just looking for you. I was wondering if you could produce that – what did you call it? The aerozoan? – For me again. According to my attorney–

Just then, the large black creature came around the corner. The man jumped backwards several feet, and screamed.

Kate responded, "I'm sure I could, Sir Hugh, though I'm not sure it would like to see you. After all, you very nearly killed it after interrupting my lecture. I'm afraid you'll have to wait in the hallway while I fetch it. . .

"WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS THAT PANTHER DOING IN HERE!" The man screamed.

Kate replied, "First off, it is certainly not a panther. You'll find the wings are quite a dead–"

"Never mind." The man interrupted. I think I will come another time. Preferably some time you don't have a new 'discovery' lurking in the hallways."

From the way he emphasized "discovery", Matt believed him to be a skeptic of the other high-altitude animals Kate had uncovered, the cloud cat and the aerozoan. And probably also the bug, with the long Latin name.

"I look forward to it." Kate retorted. The creature growled after him, visibly hastening his retreat.

When he had left, Matt asked, "Who was that?"

"Sir Hugh Snuffler." Kate answered. "He's a prominent zoologist, and he attended my last lecture."

"What was that about his attorney?" Matt asked again.

"Remember that egg I brought back from the _Hyperion_?"

Matt nodded. The ship had housed a group of floating animals, which he and Kate had named aerozoans, which somehow used sunlight to produce hydrium, which they used to float, and electricity. The large adults could generate enough voltage to kill a man, and the smaller ones could generate a powerful shock.

"Well, I let it hatch, and showed it at my lecture. He claimed it was a fake, and grabbed it in front of everybody." She smiled. "It gave him a nasty 'shock' when he learned it was real."

Matt looked at her.

She frowned. "It was supposed to be a joke. Wasn't it funny?"

Wicker, standing behind them, coughed. "May we, perhaps, enter the room?" He asked.

Kate smiled again, her attempt at humor forgotten. "Of course!"

She took out a key, and inserted it into the lock. When the door opened, Matt's predictions of its size were realized.

It was obvious why Miss Simpkins took residence at Kate's other apartment – the room was more of a laboratory than a dorm. There were shelves that contained more than just books, of which there were many. Three of the four walls had a table pushed up against it, one of them supporting a cage that held the aerozoan hatchling. Kate had a large camera set up in a corner, positioned over a slide.

Still, it had obviously started as a room before Kate had moved in. There was a plush carpet over the entire floor, and a door that likely led to her own personal bathroom. Matt found it funny that Kate's dorm room was probably better stocked than the laboratories at the nearby university building. It was strange how Kate could be so bad at conventional humor, but could do something like this without batting an eyelash.

The boy and the black creature were even more interested by the room. The boy walked to a manual lying open on a table, and began paging through it, looking at the detailed illustrations. The creature went to a group of vials, and began sniffing each one in turn.

Kate asked Matt, "You've tried speaking to the boy?"

"Yes," Matt replied, "But he doesn't speak English or French."

"Hm–" Kat said, "let me try something."

She spoke a strange group of words Matt didn't recognize, and the boy's head shot up, looking at her. She said something else.

"What is that?" Matt asked.

"Latin." Kate answered. "An old phrase of greeting."

The boy said something back, and Kate's brow wrinkled. "Some of the words are the same, but it's a different language."

"Can you ask him his name?" Matt asked.

"Maybe." Kate answered. Again, she said something to the boy. It didn't make any more sense to Matt, even knowing that it was Latin.

The boy responded, "Hiccup."

Matt looked to Kate. "Did he just say, 'hiccup?'"

"Yes." Kate answered.

"And what does that translate to?" He asked

"I. . . I think it translates to 'hiccup'" She said.

"Hm." Matt said. "It's not the worst I've heard. Much better than 'Snuffler.'"

Kate smiled.

Matt had one more question. "And what is that thing?" He gestured to the creature overlooking Kate's setup.

Kate asked the boy in Latin, but he only looked back, puzzled. She tried again, with a different sentence.

The boy answered back. Kate thought for a second, then looked to Matt.

"Do you know all those old maps, that say, 'here there be dragons?'"

"Yes." Matt answered. At the airship academy, he had learned about ancient methods of navigation, including those of the first sailors, who though you could sail right off the edge of the earth.

"Well," Kate continued, "that's the nearest word I can think of. He says it's his dragon."

Matt looked at the creature – a real life dragon.


End file.
